VOLCANO BAY.....INFO AND QUESTION THREAD........

[jerseygal]

@03GirlsMom..Oh MUCH thanks for pointing that out..I mistakenly assumed that If you stayed at the 3 hotels that you would get early entry, As you would with the two other parks. Didn’t realize that you have to purchase EE..separately for VB even if you stay on site! Thanks for the clarification!

 

[bdyy]

Jerseygal you get EE early entry by staying at ANY onsite hotels. It is EP that you have to purchase separately.

 

[jerseygal]

Jerseygal you get EE early entry by staying at ANY onsite hotels. It is EP that you have to purchase separately.

Ok, thanks! So EE to VB with any Universal hotel and EP must be purchased separately to VB regardless of the Universal Hotel that you choose.

 

[Momtomouselover]

I waited on hold for 3 hours yesterday to book premium seats for Sunday 6/13 ($69.99) & Tuesday 6/15 ($59.99). I'm hoping to read a few more reports closer to our travel date to make the final decision, whether to keep one or neither dates. I actually only called to get pricing, but after being on hold for so long I didn't want to call back.

We were there 5/28/2017, had premium seating when they were scattered around and really enjoyed having the lockers and the servers.

We have never been to VB. Is this the price for two loungers? Is this the only way to reserve them? That’s a long time to be on hold :/
thanks!

 

[soniam]

We have never been to VB. Is this the price for two loungers? Is this the only way to reserve them? That’s a long time to be on hold :/
thanks!

Yes, it's for two. They are connected and share a shade with a lockbox between them. You can only do it on the phone. I did it last weekend and was on hold for ~90 minutes. Try in the morning on the weekend, particularly Sunday.

 

[Momtomouselover]

Yes, it's for two. They are connected and share a shade with a lockbox between them. You can only do it on the phone. I did it last weekend and was on hold for ~90 minutes. Try in the morning on the weekend, particularly Sunday.

Thank you! I know this is general but any other advice for a first time visitor? It will be me and my teenager. If anyone has had a recent visit and has advice about current crowds, operations, expectations, I would love to hear it. I have read many of the posts but didn’t know how things are for now/early June.

 

[Claudia1]

We are going to VB for for one day and will be transporting from a Disney resort. I've spoken with a transportation service and they told me they drop off at the Adventura Hotel and we use the access to VB from there.

Is this allowed? Do you need a room reservation to access from Adventura?

 

[cartydog]

We went on the Saturday of Mother’s Day weekend. The wait times were not horrible for rides. The food lines were insane. We did have premium seating, which wasn’t all that, but I guess it was worth it for getting food delivered to us instead of waiting in the food lines. The snack cart lines weren’t as bad as the restaurant lines though. I got ice cream mid afternoon over by the marketplace, and there was no one in line there. But the bar line by premium seating was long all day.

The ground and sand was also like a billion degrees. They do make an effort to spray the concrete, to help, but it’s not all covered. And they can’t do anything about the sand temp. I highly recommend water socks.

 

[shawthorne44]

We are going to VB for for one day and will be transporting from a Disney resort. I've spoken with a transportation service and they told me they drop off at the Adventura Hotel and we use the access to VB from there.

Is this allowed? Do you need a room reservation to access from Adventura?

That doesn't make any sense. Cabana Bay is the one with special access, and you need to show your room key to go through there. So, maybe they mean you to walk from Adventura to the front entrance of VB. I would Google Map that.

 

[serene56]

Reading some trip reports on VB on another site is disappointing in terms of potential lines, wait times, availability of chairs(not planning on renting a cabana). We would not be staying on site this particular time to take advantage of early entry. We are thinking of going non weekend on a Monday. Willing to get there as early we need to, but without the advantage of Early Entry , thinking it might be better for another triipnwhen we are staying onsite??? Not going on a Holiday, Spring break, nothing like that, actually thinking if going this coming Monday, May 24th.. Some are disgruntled with riding the bus, waiting for food like 1 and a half hours, etc.. Wondering if it is worth the $85 for the three of us, $255? Three adults, all love water parks.. this coming Monday, May 24th is listed as Moderately Busy on The Orlando Informer Crowd Calendar… TIA!

did you go on Monday=-= how was it

 

[jerseygal]

did you go on Monday=-= how was it

We decided to skip it..envisioned lines, lines for food..decided to pass this time. Thanks everyone for all of the helpful comments.

 

[atricks]

That doesn't make any sense. Cabana Bay is the one with special access, and you need to show your room key to go through there. So, maybe they mean you to walk from Adventura to the front entrance of VB. I would Google Map that.

There is a gate to the tunnel entrance of VB next to Aventura, I've used it before. It uses the same security as the resort bus drop offs and you walk through the tunnel. Cabana Bay has it's own (nicer and shorter) path that doesn't go through there or the tunnel and has its own security.

To get to the Aventura one, use the sidewalk along the road (Adventure Way) and walk by the Aventura pool.

 

[Nicole786]

Can I just get an opinion on this, i'm so torn

For my fathers 60th birthday in July we are going to Universal, and on that particular Sunday, going to VB. We rented the LAST cabana of the day, with the month of July being almsot completely sold out. But it is an upper cabana for $750 + tax -- I know that it is summer, and I know that it is a weekend, but is that just utterly ridiculous? I want the family of 5 to have a chill space of our own, but i'm questioning how much that will impact our time at that price.

Thanks for your input!

 

[jerseygal]

@Nicole786.. Sounds like you are very generous!Seems like it is SOoo expensive though.. personallly think that pricing is egregious.. enjoy your Dads bday

 

[ForceofWill]

Can I just get an opinion on this, i'm so torn

For my fathers 60th birthday in July we are going to Universal, and on that particular Sunday, going to VB. We rented the LAST cabana of the day, with the month of July being almsot completely sold out. But it is an upper cabana for $750 + tax -- I know that it is summer, and I know that it is a weekend, but is that just utterly ridiculous? I want the family of 5 to have a chill space of our own, but i'm questioning how much that will impact our time at that price.

Thanks for your input!

Wow, we'll be there in July as well and I was thinking about Cabanas. NO WAY I'd be dropping $750! That's nuts. So many things to do with that money at Universal.

 

[03GirlsMom]

Can I just get an opinion on this, i'm so torn

For my fathers 60th birthday in July we are going to Universal, and on that particular Sunday, going to VB. We rented the LAST cabana of the day, with the month of July being almsot completely sold out. But it is an upper cabana for $750 + tax -- I know that it is summer, and I know that it is a weekend, but is that just utterly ridiculous? I want the family of 5 to have a chill space of our own, but i'm questioning how much that will impact our time at that price.

Thanks for your input!

We rented an upper cabana in April and loved the convenience of having it. With that said, we paid $250 for it. I don’t think any amount of added service or convenience it provides would be worth $750.

 

[ForceofWill]

So I just called to check our dates for the heck of it. July 7-12th, the weekdays are $796 and weekends like $825. Even the preferred chairs are $180! Needless to say that was a HARD NOPE to both of those lol. Guess we're packing light and stuffing stuff in a locker.

 

[soniam]

So I just called to check our dates for the heck of it. July 7-12th, the weekdays are $796 and weekends like $825. Even the preferred chairs are $180! Needless to say that was a HARD NOPE to both of those lol. Guess we're packing light and stuffing stuff in a locker.

Premium seating has definitely gone up from when they first opened. I got it this summer on 7/22 @ $150. Not a great price, but it's been worth it for us. We only need 1 set, and there are 3 of us.

 

[christophfam]

Has anyone done the premium seating recently? I had a member on another board tell me not to go to concierge. She said premium seating has their own sign in at premium seating. She just went in the last week or two.
I must have bought premium just before a rate increase. We’re going 6/3 for $89.99.

 

[ForceofWill]

Has anyone done the premium seating recently? I had a member on another board tell me not to go to concierge. She said premium seating has their own sign in at premium seating. She just went in the last week or two.
I must have bought premium just before a rate increase. We’re going 6/3 for $89.99.

90$ I might have stomached for premium seating. If we were only there a few days I could see it being worth it to make sure we got a good day in. Right now we have 3 park tickets for the 8 nights we're there so we'll probably just pop in, in the evenings for our pool time.